Today's real wedding is one of those special ones where you can just tell everyone in the room was rooting for the couple, and overjoyed to be there. Lisa & Emma met in London and still live in he UK, and despite planning their Irish wedding at Barberstown Castle from afar, they treated their guests to a fun, emotional and stylish celebration. Enhancing the relaxed atmosphere at every opportunity, the brides skipped the formal wedding party and traditional speeches, but got their friends and family involved in other ways. With gorgeous style ideas, clever personal touches (we're loving their welcome party idea!) and a beautiful setting, Give Us A Goo captured it all, as as you'll see, there wasn't a dry eye to be found.

Lisa & Emma met on a night out in London where they were both living and working, “Lisa had moved over here for a job after qualifying as a teacher. We exchanged numbers and went on a date a few weeks later, and things blossomed from there!” Emma tells us.

Lisa popped the question the night before she and Emma were due to fly to Budapest for the weekend, “We’d cracked open a bottle of Prosecco and were enjoying a few pre-holiday drinks on our balcony when Lisa got down on one knee popped the question! We’ve spent many happy years together in our first home, so it was really nice that we got engaged there (plus Lisa she would have been trouble if I’d been proposed in public!).” Emma got her perfect proposal, and Lisa got to relax and enjoy the weekend away - perfect!

Oh a first look makes me smile every single time - these two look so excited to see eachother!

The couple wanted their wedding to be an intimate and relaxed affair, “We didn’t really have a theme, and wanted to keep things simple, so we went for quite a relaxed feel, with rustic green and white flowers and accessorised the tables with a bit of gold. The wedding venue at Barberstown Castle is already very impressive and packed with character, so we didn’t want anything too fussy but wanted to it to have had a personal touch and reflect our personalities. There was also a lot of love in the room – there wasn’t a dry eye in the house!” Those are the best weddings.

Don't their wedding dresses and hairstyles tie in together beautifully? Lisa’s sister Orla did a great job on the coordination, as you'll read about further down.

The couple opted out of having an official wedding party as they wanted the lead up to their wedding to be relaxed and enjoyable for everyone involved, "We encouraged as many people as possible to get involved with the preparations - we were overwhelmed with the help we got from friends and family.”

These two are giving us major hair inspiration!

Obligatory lipstick fix.

Oh everyone looks so chuffed for them!

Lisa & Emma’s top consideration was to give their guests a really good party, “So once we’d found the perfect venue our priorities were probably good food, ensuring there was a good supply of wine and good music!”

As they were hosting guests from the UK, Emma & Lisa decided to have a welcome event ahead of their big day, “We decided to organise a ‘night before’ event rather than a ‘day after’ event. We wanted to do something fun and relaxed, so we organised minibuses to take everyone to a local pub for some pub grub and a few drinks. We also hired a trad band to play for the night which was great fun! Although we were both a little bit nervous the night before the wedding, it was a really nice way for everyone to get to know one another before the wedding and an opportunity for us to spend more time catching up with friends and family. Importantly however, we made sure we booked return minibuses as a sensible hour so we didn’t all get too carried away!” What a clever way to set the tone for your wedding day.

Lisa & Emma had their some help on the style front too, as Emma tells us, “Lisa’s sister – Orla Daly - is the popular Irish fashion blogger @dalyfashionfix so we got some expert advice when picking our wedding dresses. We kept our dresses, hair and makeup a secret from one another until the day itself, so Orla played a key role in ensuring we didn’t end up clashing! In actual fact, our dresses and hair ended up being more similar than we’d ever imagined they would be!” I think the two styles tie in together beautifully!

For Lisa & Emma, Barberstown Castle had the wow factor they were looking for and was the perfect fit for their guests coming from afar, “Everything about the place is so unique and well managed. The venue is full of character and the grounds are beautiful. As half of our guests were travelling from England or overseas, it was important that we picked somewhere close to Dublin airport. We also wanted somewhere that felt quite traditionally ‘Irish’ and had enough accommodation for all those travelling.”

The tall candelabras add a real elegance to the castle setting.

As they were planning from the UK, they booked the venue before Emma had even visited it, but Lisa had a good feeling about Barberstown Castle once she’d seen it, “She’d seen a lot of beautiful venues that week, but what really sold it for her was how impressive and accommodating the wedding team were. They made us feel as though nothing would be too much hassle, and left us feeling confident that liaising with them in the lead up to the wedding and on the day would be easy and stress free (and it was!).”

Lisa & Emma’s guests were equally impressed with the venue, “After the wedding, without exception, all our guests commented on how much they loved Barberstown and the staff there. The day itself went really smoothly and the standard of food exceeded all expectations!”

The couple’s advice to others getting married? Hire good suppliers and don’t worry too much about the small things, “Everything will come together on the day. As we were organising everything from the UK it forced us to be more decisive about things, which ultimately meant we were less stressed and enjoyed the build up to the wedding more. Also try and take in as much as you can on the day, as it flies by.”

The couple had a unique alternative to the traditional speeches, “One thing we were sure about from the start though was that neither of us wanted to do the dreaded speech on the day! So we borrowed an idea from a friend’s wedding and pre-recorded a short-film to play during the speeches. We were lucky enough to be able to call on our very talented friend Aoife O’Kelly (who also happens to be a film director!) to direct and shoot the film. We spent the day in and around London taking shots of us with all the major landmarks and in memorable places from our dating days. Although we felt a little awkward watching ourselves on camera at first, it was actually one of the best things we did for the wedding and the video is something we’ll treasure forever.”

The brides had a lot of fun tricking catching their guests out too, “We used the film as an opportunity to say thank you to everyone and tell everyone about our first date and proposal stories! We’d also been secretly taking video clips of friends and family over the last year and so suitably embarrassed everyone by editing those into our film. (here’s the link to the final video if you want to see)." Such a cool idea!

Lisa & Emma jetted off to Santorini and Mykonos after their wedding, “We’ve been lucky enough to to be able to travel a lot over the last few years, and so wanted to honeymoon somewhere short haul but sunny. We went to Santorini for a bit of R&R after the wedding (which is absolutely stunning!), then onto Mykonos for a bit of nightlife before we headed home.” Now that sounds pretty perfect to me!

Such a wonderful wedding, and so many great ideas too - thanks so much to Lisa & Emma for letting us in on their wedding day, and of course to Give Us A Goo for sharing their beautiful work!

Recommended Suppliers

• Wedding Venue: Barberstown Castle
• Flowers: A Room in a Bloom
• Wedding Band: The Mixtape
• Photographer: Give Us A Goo

The Wedding Details 

• Wedding Dresses: Teokath of London
• Shoes: Dorothy Perkins
• Cake: French Wedding Cakes
• Wedding Favours: Selfie Sticks from eBay
• Invitations & Menus: PeachyPrintsUK
• Order of Service: Creationary
• Hair: Michelle O’Halloran (Emma) & Nicki Fanning (Lisa)

• Makeup: Ashley O’Rourke (Emma) & Grainne Duffy (Lisa)
• Wedding Bands: Hatton Garden
• Ceremony Music: Astral String Quartet
• Reception Music: Treble & Bass
• Reception DJ: Star DJs
• Photobooth: Smile Photobooth
• Chair Hire: Budget Event Hire